Thieves chip giant shark’s tooth fossil from ancient rock

The location of the tooth was only known to a few local peopleGETTY IMAGES

A fossilised tooth belonging to a 50-foot long shark, the largest thought to have roamed the oceans, has been gouged from a rock in Western Australia.

Police are investigating the theft of the megalodon tooth from the remote Ningaloo Coast World Heritage area, 750 miles north of Perth.

Megalodon sharks became extinct 2.6 million years ago. The fossilised tooth — three to four inches long — was unearthed last year but its location was kept secret by wildlife authorities who feared it might be taken.

“It was definitely a secret,” ranger Arvid Hogstrom from Western Australia’s Parks and Wildlife Service told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “Only a few local people actually knew where it was. But it only takes one person to tell the wrong…